Chinese Government: Did you mean...?

Oracle Bones (also known as Dragon's Bones) were the shoulder blades of oxen or plastrons of turtles (the flat underside of the turtle's shell) which were used in the Shang Dynasty of China (c. 1600-1046 BCE) for divination. The symbols carved...

Wako (aka wokou and waegu) is a term used to refer to Japanese (but also including Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese) pirates who plagued the seas of East Asia from Korea to Indonesia, especially between the 13th and 17th centuries CE. Besides...

The Early Joseon Period (1392 - c. 1550 CE) in Korea was bookended by internal power struggles but witnessed major scientific and societal advances and prosperity. The Joseon (Choson) Dynasty ruled Korea from 1392 CE to 1897 CE, and scholars...

Emperor Gaozu (also Kao-tsu, formerly Li Yuan, r. 618-626 CE) was a Sui military commander who led a rebellion against his former masters, seized control of the state, and founded the Tang Dynasty (618-906 CE). Overshadowed in the ancient...

This infographic illustrates the government of the Roman Republic (c. 509–27 BCE), a political system that combined elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Over nearly five centuries, the Republic developed institutions designed...

A photograph of the first cabinet members of Russia's Provisional Government of 1917, which replaced Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917) from March that year. The first prime minister is seated on the far left, Prince Georgii Lvov (1861-1925...

Roman Government society Consul Praetor Aedile Quaestor Censor Plebeians Patricians Equites Freedmen SPQR Tribal Assembly Centuriate Assembly The Senate The Tribune

Freedom Loan, poster by Boris Kustodiev, 1917. A Russian Revolution era poster promoting the Freedom (or Liberty) Loan, a proposal of the new Russian Provisional Government to control an unraveling economy amidst the war effort against the...

An artist's impression of what a scene from Carthaginian or Near Eastern government may have looked like.

Throughout history, in order for a government to be respected and obeyed, it must possess some form of legitimacy recognized by the governed. Governmental systems have relied on a number of models for legitimacy, among them the dynastic form...